Living where the ground water is rarely below 85 deg F I have had trouble getting my boil cooled to pitching temperature. Yesterday I rigged my pump to recirculate the wort in the boil kettle and nearly halved the time it took to reach 70 deg F. I still used ice to get the ground water cooled, but not until around 100 deg F. Previously it would take nearly an hour to reach this temperature.

Just about the best advance in my brew session yet.

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Beer is an ancient beverage that has been consumed as part of a balanced diet for centuries - it contains the goodness of sprouted grain extracted into rich liquid and fermented to produce a nutritional 'liquid cereal' beverage.

There was an article about this in one of the brewing magazines (maybe zymurgy, or maybe byo?) a few years ago. It sounded like a great idea. The setup in the article had returns that were angled to create a whirlpool while recirculating for the old two birds / one stone thing.

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Delmarva United Homebrewers - President by inverse coup - former president ousted himself.AHA Member since 2006BJCP Certified: B0958

I can generally hit mid40s by using a sump pump and recircing the ground water through ice once I hit about 90df.

great little trick, eh?

Yes, it sure is. Good to see you back.

I also bought a pump to do specifically this. But upon comparison, periodic stirring will accomplish the same thing. I get 6 gallons down to 120 in 5 minutes and five stirs with my tepid groundwater. Even with groundwater and a pump it slows down quite a bit after that.

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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis

Since this was my first with new technique I tracked the progress. Took my first reading at about 195. Then the temp vs time went as follows. 3 min - 1656 min - 1389 min - 122 switched from ground water to secondary chiller in ice bath after this14 min - 10017:30 - 90 started pumping straight ice water through the chiller using my pond pump21 min - 8024 min - 70Stopped at this point and began whirlpool. Temp drop about 100 in first 15 min and 30 during remaining time, using much colder water. Oh well, that must be the law of thermodynamics.

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Beer is an ancient beverage that has been consumed as part of a balanced diet for centuries - it contains the goodness of sprouted grain extracted into rich liquid and fermented to produce a nutritional 'liquid cereal' beverage.

I will tell you how I do it. I have 2 immersion chillers (25' and 50') that are connected together. My groundwater goes into the 25' chiller which sits in a bucket of ice. The cool water then passes into my 50' chiller which is in the wort. The the water flows out and is collected for cleaning equipment. I also have a chugger pump which recirculates the wort.I am able to get my wort from boiling to 70 degrees in about 20 minutes using this method, as long as I can keep ice on the 25' pre-chiller.

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Michael P MitchemBeer and Ale Research Foundation (B.A.R.F.)AHA Member since 2011

At around 110 dF, I fill my Igloo round mash tun with ice, put a Harbor Freight sump pump in there, and create a loop to the IM. Generally I stir while cooling, but have hooked up a March pump to recirculate the wort into a whirlpool.

At around 110 dF, I fill my Igloo round mash tun with ice, put a Harbor Freight sump pump in there, and create a loop to the IM. Generally I stir while cooling, but have hooked up a March pump to recirculate the wort into a whirlpool.

This is what I do as well although I start in with the ice right off the bat. I go through a lot of ice but I don't need a garden hose. Adding a pump to recirc the wort while I'm chilling is on my to do list.